Eric
September 25th, 2009, 02:59 PM
Hi all,
I've been working on this lightweight setup for a bit now, mostly for playing in church on Sundays, and it goes like this:
LP clone -> Tech21 GT2 -> Boss ME-50 -> Kustom Quad 100 DFX effect return (from amp output on ME-50) -> house PA (from XLR line out on amp)
The GT2 provides a decent clean with some body as the preamp, the ME-50 does all of my effects, and the Kustom amp is pretty much just a monitor that is piped directly into the house. I go into the effect return because I don't want any added mess from the preamp: I just need some volume for myself.
BTW, it's 'lightweight' because the Kustom amp is always there, so I only transport the guitar and two pedals. I like the idea.
The problem came in last night during rehearsal when, upon hitting some louder clean chords, there was significant clipping. This was in both the amp output (because I could hear it), and the house output (because the drummer could hear it in his headphones).
So what's the deal? It's a freaking 100w amp, so how in the world could it not have enough headroom for my lame-o setup? I wasn't playing THAT loud... Gain in the house was turned down to fix the issue in the drummer's phones, but I honestly don't know if it solved anything, because every other song I was playing with OD (i.e. if it was clipping, nobody would realize it).
I want to make sure I'm not damaging A) the amp or B) the house system with the clipping, and I'd ultimately like to know how to solve it. There are going to be times when I need some volume and am playing clean, so just keeping everything low doesn't seem like it's actually addressing the problem.
If you've made it to the end of this post, congratulations and thank you. Please help if you have any ideas. Thanks!
I've been working on this lightweight setup for a bit now, mostly for playing in church on Sundays, and it goes like this:
LP clone -> Tech21 GT2 -> Boss ME-50 -> Kustom Quad 100 DFX effect return (from amp output on ME-50) -> house PA (from XLR line out on amp)
The GT2 provides a decent clean with some body as the preamp, the ME-50 does all of my effects, and the Kustom amp is pretty much just a monitor that is piped directly into the house. I go into the effect return because I don't want any added mess from the preamp: I just need some volume for myself.
BTW, it's 'lightweight' because the Kustom amp is always there, so I only transport the guitar and two pedals. I like the idea.
The problem came in last night during rehearsal when, upon hitting some louder clean chords, there was significant clipping. This was in both the amp output (because I could hear it), and the house output (because the drummer could hear it in his headphones).
So what's the deal? It's a freaking 100w amp, so how in the world could it not have enough headroom for my lame-o setup? I wasn't playing THAT loud... Gain in the house was turned down to fix the issue in the drummer's phones, but I honestly don't know if it solved anything, because every other song I was playing with OD (i.e. if it was clipping, nobody would realize it).
I want to make sure I'm not damaging A) the amp or B) the house system with the clipping, and I'd ultimately like to know how to solve it. There are going to be times when I need some volume and am playing clean, so just keeping everything low doesn't seem like it's actually addressing the problem.
If you've made it to the end of this post, congratulations and thank you. Please help if you have any ideas. Thanks!